Martin didn't have the voice to speak yet, but he had more than enough ways to show how much he'd missed his favorite adult—Uncle Luca.
If asked, Laura could list the signs from the past weeks: the restlessness in the evenings, the way his cries turned dull and searching, and the odd pauses where he'd stare at doors as if expecting someone familiar to appear. Some people might brush these off as a baby's mindlessness—but not his mother.
However, no one needed an explanation, because Martin received Luca breathlessly, like a penguin chick to its parent. It was proof enough.
Seeing Luca and her child happy together was a sight Laura wished she could freeze in time. Whenever the three of them were reunited, it felt balanced and magnetic, a real sense of togetherness with a touch of paradise.
She could have sworn Luca felt it too, and the way he smiled told her she wasn't wrong.
